The World Health Organisation and United Nations Children’s Fund on Monday, November 8 kicked off a nationwide polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan after the Taliban-run public health ministry in the country announced on Sunday that the four-day campaign will be aimed at inoculating children below the age of 5 against polio.
Naikwali Shah Momin, the National Emergency Operations Coordinator for the polio programme at the health ministry in Afghanistan, reported that the campaign has commenced in various parts of the country. However, the shortage of staff to lead the drive have posed challenges to the objective of the campaign.
Suggesting that there is a lack of medically trained vaccination teams, Momin recommended that more training be given to vaccination teams in remote areas so that the campaign can begin in regions such as Kabul.
Meanwhile, welcoming the support provided by the Taliban leadership to fast-track the polio vaccine campaign in the country, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al Mandhari stated that the backing “demonstrates a joint commitment to maintaining the health system and restart essential immunizations to avert further outbreaks of preventable diseases.”
The polio vaccine campaign is resuming in Afghanistan after 3 years as the Taliban had barred UN-backed vaccination teams from doing door-to-door campaigns in parts of the country under its control during that time. Consequently, around 3.3 million children over the past three years had not been vaccinated against the incurable disease.
Commenting on the vaccine campaign winning the Taliban’s backing, Dr Qalandar Ebad, the Taliban’s acting Public Health Minister stated, “without any doubt, polio is a disease that without treatment will either kill our children or cause them with a permanent disability, so in this case, the only way is to implement the vaccination.”
The four-day campaign is aiming to target the estimated population of Afghanistan’s 10 million children under age 5, including the more than 3.3 million who could not be reached since 2018. Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic since its virtual global eradication, made successful through decades-long immunisation drives.
